Rudy, I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it recently but ‘bones looks great. There’s not much out there to compete with it as a presenter of Black literary and philosophical thought. I’m constantly referring folk to it. Chuck (9/28/07)

Commentary on ChickenBonesI want to say that you have given a wonderful gift to humankind by establishing and maintaining ChickenBones. In the history of African American journals of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, I rank your magazine with Negro Digest/Black World, which was “blessed” to have the financial backing of Johnson Publications. It is required reading for people who wish to be informed about the trajectories of thought in the contemporary world. It is a dynamic, growing textbook that ought to be used in courses on African American literature and culture. I am using it as an external link for the course I teach this semester on the Foundations of African American Literature. My students need to know that academic journals do not tell us everything. So, thank you Rudy for your gift to black folks and everybody else. Peace and brotherhood, Jerry Ward, Jr. (24 August 2008)

Apartheid dead but racism enduresUnder apartheid, black education was purposely substandard and certain skilled jobs, notably in big corporations such as the railroad, were reserved for whites. Now white South Africans complain about government affirmative action programs that work against them. Yet despite these programs and a booming economy, more blacks are out of work than under white rule. Government statistics show that 10 percent of black households are in the top income bracket compared with 65 percent of white households. Blacks are 85 percent of the 48 million population. President Thabo Mbeki hoped business friendly policies would create a trickle-down effect, but they didn’t, and many blacks criticize Mbeki for leaving the reins of the economy in white hands.Yahoo News

Will Americans Ever Learn–I have this theory in life that there is no learning. There is no learning curve. Everything is tabula rasa. Everybody has to discover things for themselves. . . . Again, there’s no learning curve. No learning curve at all. We’ll be ready to fight another stupid war in another two decades.Seymour Hersh, Interview Spiegel Online (28 September 2007) What Black Men Think (Film, 2007)

Gun Violence: The American WaySince Sept. 11, 2001, when the countrys attention understandably turned to terrorism, nearly 120,000 Americans have been killed in nonterror homicides, most of them committed with guns. Think about it  120,000 dead. Thats nearly 25 times the number of Americans killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. For the most part, we pay no attention to this relentless carnage. The idea of doing something meaningful about the insane number of guns in circulation is a nonstarter. So what if eight kids are shot to death every day in America. So what if someone is killed by a gun every 17 minutes. The goal of the National Rifle Association and a host of so-called conservative lawmakers is to get ever more guns into the hands of ever more people. Texas is one of a number of states considering bills to allow concealed guns on college campuses. Supporters argue, among other things, that it will enable students and professors to defend themselves against mass murderers, like the deranged gunman who killed 32 people at Virginia Tech two years ago. Theyd like guns to be as ubiquitous as laptops or cellphones. One Texas lawmaker referred to unarmed people on campuses as sitting ducks. NYTimes

Commentary on ChickenBonesI want to say that you have given a wonderful gift to humankind by establishing and maintaining ChickenBones. In the history of African American journals of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, I rank your magazine with Negro Digest/Black World, which was “blessed” to have the financial backing of Johnson Publications. It is required reading for people who wish to be informed about the trajectories of thought in the contemporary world. It is a dynamic, growing textbook that ought to be used in courses on African American literature and culture. I am using it as an external link for the course I teach this semester on the Foundations of African American Literature. My students need to know that academic journals do not tell us everything. So, thank you Rudy for your gift to black folks and everybody else. Peace and brotherhood, Jerry Ward, Jr. (24 August 2008)